Chronic Pain

Pain is a necessary evil to signal that something is wrong within the body. Acute pain is any pain caused by an immediate trauma or condition. Acute pain acts as a warning signal to the body. Chronic pain, on the other hand, is a pain that has lasted longer than three months and interferes with a person’s daily activities. Each person experiences or perceives pain differently. Pain arises by stimulation of special sensory nerve endings responding to bodily pressure, heat, cold, irritation, injury, stress (emotional), and disease. Ensuing feelings of depression and hopelessness tend to heighten the experience of pain by causing increased heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, sweating, and muscle tension (Sternbach, R. Pain: A Psychophysiological Analysis. New York: Academic Press, 1968). Pain is the number one reason why people seek medical attention.

Signs and Symptoms

NOTE: The length of time pain is experienced is based on the amount of tissue injury and the person’s threshold and perception of the pain. Acute pain is usually self-limiting, while chronic pain lasts for three months or longer.

Possible Causes or Contributing Factors

1. Trauma.
2. Obesity
3. Tumors or growths - internal or external
4. Poor muscle development
5. Endocrine dysfunction i.e. adrenal gland or pituitary exhaustion
6. Poor posture.
7. Flat feet
8. Food sensitivities, such as lactose intolerance causing abdominal pains.
9. Coffee - appears to increase pain sensitivity.
10. Emotional response.
11. Poor diet - over-acid diet that eats away protective mucous membrane and nerve sheathing; lack of green vegetables and calcium-rich foods.
12. Dental problems.
13. Nerve impingements.
14. Cytokine and/or prostaglandin formation.
15. Disease conditions.

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